Philipp J Vet Anim Sci 2013, 39 (2): 165-172

165

PARTICIPATORY APPROACH IN DEFINITION OF BREEDING OBJECTIVE

TRAITS FOR BOHOLANO STRAIN OF NATIVE CHICKEN
Agapita J. Salces1, Liza M. Quirog2 and Edgar I. Chatto3
ABSTRACT
The research aims to define the breeding objective traits of Boholano
strain of native chicken using participatory approach to be incorporated for
its purification. A total of 45 households were interviewed. The questionnaire
was designed to collect data covering general information on village poultry
production such as socio-management characteristics, production objectives,
population structure, breed choice and trait preferences, market preferences
of specific traits, and farmers selection practices. The participatory farmers
discussions were designed to involve stakeholders in defining the breeding
objective traits and deriving their relative importance in the production
environment based on the different functions of chickens and traits identified
in the interviews. The results showed that production of eggs for
consumption is the principal function of chickens in most towns followed by
the use as source of income and meat for home consumption. Weight is the
primary factor that dictates market price but farmers rated growth and
number of eggs as the production traits that they would like to be improved.
Therefore, the breeding objective should be to develop dual-purpose
Boholano strain of native chicken considering the traits of number of eggs
and live weight and possessing the distinct plumage color and comb type.
Keywords: breeding, native chicken, participatory approach

INTRODUCTION
The Philippine native chicken is the common fowl found in the backyards of
most rural households. It is a mixture of different breeds and believed to have
descended from the domesticated red jungle fowl. Indigenous chickens are raised
under the free-range system of management. Under this system of management,
the chickens are allowed to forage and look for their own food. The raising of native
chickens is an integral part of the farming systems of the Filipino farmers as they are
the main source of eggs and meat for backyard farmers. Native chickens are well
1

Animal and Dairy Sciences Cluster, College of Agriculture, University of the

Philippines Los Baos, Laguna, Philippines (email: ajsalces@yahoo.com);
2
Socio-economic and Environment Management Cluster, Provincial Local
Government Unit of Bohol, Tagbilaran City, Philippines; 3Office of the
Governor, Province of Bohol, Capitol Building, Tagbilaran City, Philippines.

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known for the distinctive taste of its meat (Lambio et al., 1998; Cocjin et al., 2001),
adaptability to local agro-climatic conditions, hardiness, ability to utilize farm-byproducts (Lopez, 2008) and resistance to diseases. Moreover, they require minimal
care, management and inputs.
Meat and eggs of native chickens are preferred by many Filipinos over the
same products from commercial poultry because of their taste, leanness,
pigmentation and suitability to Filipino special dishes. Moreover, native chicken
meat and eggs are priced higher than those coming from commercial poultry, hence
raising native chickens is a very good income generating activity of the farmers.
Selection of the native chicken manok bisaya strain has been done to preserve
the unique taste of the meat due to some free amino acids. The unique taste of
favorable flavor in native chicken could be attributed to 1.5 times higher inosinic acid
than that of the broilers. Cocjin et al. (2001) reported that in Darag chickens, the
higher level of aspartic acid compared to broilers meat was imputed to convey
favorable flavor.
The traits traditionally considered as criteria for selecting breeding stock are
important in describing the adaptive attributes and genetic merits of the indigenous
chickens and in identifying farmers choice of chicken breeds and the underlying
factors that determine the choice of genetic stock used (Gondwe, 2005; Gondwe
and Wolny, 2007; Dana et al., 2010). Under smallholder production systems,
however, conventional breeding methods are constrained by the absence of
records, low level of literacy, small flock sizes per household and uncontrolled
breeding (Kosgey, 2004; Gizaw et al., 2009). To design viable genetic improvement
schemes under smallholder production conditions, the prevailing production
conditions and/or systems and production goals must be fully understood and views
of the targeted communities duly taken into account.
The market preferences for specific traits identified in the current study could
be used to compliment or stimulate further work on economic valuation of the traits
(Scarpa, 1999). However, even in the absence of economic values, the results could
be used to simulate alternative breeding schemes by using appropriate genetic
parameters and deriving relative weights for the breeding objective traits using the
desired-gain selection-index method as suggested by Solker et al. (2008). Solomon
(2008) found that farmers ratings of trait categories they preferred to be improved in
sheep in traditional systems were based on economic grounds and could be
translated into economic weights that are comparable to economic values derived
from profit equations. A similar approach could be adapted for developing breeding
systems for indigenous poultry.
The objectives of this study were to: a) identify the socioeconomic
characteristics of the production environments in Boholano strain of native chicken;
b) document and understand the traditional selection practices; and c) identify and
prioritize the breeding objective traits and trait preferences of village producers
through a participatory approach.

Definition of breeding objective traits for Boholano native chicken

167

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study sites
Five municipalities were selected based on chicken population and
representation of agro-ecological zone. Municipalities of Calape, Duero and Talibon
to represent the coastal agro-ecologizal zone; and Bilar and Garcia Hernandez for
the interior or hilly land agro-ecological zone. In each municipality, the top three
barangays with the highest native chicken population were surveyed. Purposive
sampling of three households per barangay were interviewed, for a total of 45
respondents.
Data collection and analysis
A questionnaire was drafted and pre-tested that would capture the
information needed by the project. Results of the pre-test were used to modify the
questionnaire. Qualitative traits included plumage color, shank color and comb type.
Quantitative traits included shank length, egg size, body weight and other
reproductive traits. A brief socio-economic survey intending to determine the factors
affecting the breed choice of farmers and breeding strategies to be proposed for use
in the breeding programs involving the purification of native chicken was also
included.
Participatory farmers discussions were undertaken to involve them in
identifying the breeding objective traits and the relative importance with respect to
its production environments. Two groups of farmers from each zone consisting of
nine members were formed. Two meetings were conducted in each group and
discussions were summarized to identify the purpose of raising native chickens,
traits affecting consumers preference and traits considered important in improving
the performance of native chickens. Relative weights were assigned on majority
vote. Consequently, averages of relative weights were finally ranked and compared
using Wilcoxon signed ranked test.
In order to have an idea on the viability of populations, the effective
population size was determined (Falconer and MacKay, 1996) as follows:
Ne = (4*Nm* Nf) / (Nm + Nf)
and the increase in inbreeding per generation as:
F = 1/ (2Ne)
where; Ne is the effective population size, Nm the number of breeding males, Nf the
number of breeding females and F the inbreeding coefficient.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The majority of the respondents were males belonging to Catholic religion
with high school and above level of education, except in Bilar where the
respondents were in the elementary level (Table 1).
The results of the study revealed that native chicken raising in Bohol was

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Table 1. Demographic characteristics of sample households raising Boholano

native chicken, % respondents.
Male household
head
Female
household head
Education :
Read and write
Elementary
level
High school
level and
above
Catholic
Other religions

Bilar
68.9

Calape
71.1

Duero
91.1

G-hernandez
95.5

Talibon
68.9

Total
79

31.1

28.9

8.9

4.5

31.3

21

60

44.4

8.9

48.9

15.6

35.6

15.6

2.2

13.3

9.4

4.4

24.4
100
0

53.3
75.6
7.3

77.8
97.6
2.4

46.7
81.6
5.3

80
100
0

56.4
87.6
2.4

considered as one of the major chores for men. This finding is different from the
observations of Aspe et al. (1992) that most activities in native chicken raising were
done by women and children in Caranan and Pasacao in Camarines Sur. Likewise,
Barcelo (1994) reported that women and children do most of native chicken raising
activities in Northern Philippines, particularly in
Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur,
Pangasinan, Abra and Benguet. The reported differences can be attributed to the
culture and tradition of the people in the study area. In the study of Choe et al.
(2002) it was found out that the family structure in the Philippines is more varied.
There were families dominated by men (patriarchal), women (matriarchal) and those
that involved joint decision-making by men and women. In Bohol, the native chicken
raisers family structure was patriarchal in nature.
On the farmers ratings of the relative importance of different uses of native
chickens, four towns, except Calape, rated the most important use was egg for
home consumption, followed by meat for home consumption. The third use was as
source of income (Table 2).
Results of this study revealed that native chickens were predominantly
raised for home consumption for eggs primarily and secondarily for meat. Farmers
believed that raising native chicken provides the cheapest source of eggs and meat
for the family. Therefore, the native chickens available in the market were an excess
to their consumption or the farmers have an urgent need for cash. In the rural
setting, native chickens were the cheapest source of animal protein and can easily
be sold in the market when the raisers need money.
The findings of this study on the main purpose for growing native chicken
were similar to the reports of Barcelo (1994), Magpantay et al. (2006) and Lingaya
et al. (2007) among raisers in Northern Philippines, Southern Tagalog and Iloilo,
respectively.

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169

Table 2. Farmers ratings of the relative importance of different uses of Boholano

native chicken.

Uses of chicken
Egg (home
consumption)
Meat (home
consumption)
Source of income
Cultural/Religious

Bilar
3.54 (1)

Calape
3.74 (2)

Duero
3.64 (1)

G-hernandez
3.90 (1)

Talibon
3.91 (1)

1.24 (3)

3.02 (3)

2.76 (2)

2.83 (2)

3.54 (2)

2.95 (2)
0.19 (4)

4.00 (1)
0

3.64 (3)
0

0.49 (4)
0.19 (3)

3.18 (3)
0

Numbers in parenthesis indicate ranks based on Wilcoxon signed rank test. Ranks
of chicken uses within a column bearing different numbers are different (P<0.05).
The importance of characters was rated based on weights attributed to each
function of chickens by individual respondents, least important = 1, most
important = 4.

Traits of adaptive and economic importance

Plumage color, live weight and comb type were important traits affecting
market price of chickens (Table 3). Live weight was the most important
consideration followed by plumage color. Market for eggs is not sensitive to the egg
characteristics, except that there is higher preference for eggs of native chicken
compared to those of white leghorn.
These findings indicate that the raisers knew the importance of selecting the
breeder stocks and they were primarily concerned with the improvement of body
size, yet retaining the physical attributes of native chickens, like plumage color. The

Table 3. Farmers ratings of trait categories that influence price of live Boholano
native chicken marketed.
Trait category
Plumage color
Weight
Comb type
Breed

Bilar
2.04 (2)
3.56 (1)
1.44 (3)
0

Calape
1.64 (2)
3.84 (1)
1.07 (3)
0

Duero
2.24 (2)
3.04 (1)
1.60 (3)
0.84 (40

G-hernandez
0.80 (3)
3.72 (1)
1.24 (2)
0.64 (4)

Talibon
0.96 (3)
3.84 (1)
1.08 (2)
0.88 (4)

Numbers in parenthesis indicate ranks based on Wilcoxon signed rank test. Ranks
of chicken uses within a column bearing different numbers are different (P<0.05).
The importance of characters was rated based on weights attributed to each
function of chickens by individual respondents, least important = 1, most
important = 4.

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findings on selection practices were similar to the report of Magpantay et al. (2006)
among the raisers in Southern Tagalog.
Effective population size and inbreeding in village chickens
Most of the farmers interviewed did not own breeding males or roosters.
They just shared with neighbors (31 to 55%) (Table 4). Results showed that most of
the raisers did not employ any reproductive control in their flock. They were raising
their chicken in free range where mating is random within the cluster of neighboring
flocks. Some of them were practicing selection for their replacement roosters and

Table 4. Possession of roosters, effective population size and level of inbreeding of

village chicken flock.
Nm =number of males, Nf = number of females, Ne = effective population size.
F = inbreeding coefficient.

Location
Bilar
Calape
Duero
Garcia
Hernandez
Talibon

Farmers not
possessing
roosters,%
40
55.6
31.1
44.4

Farmers
possessing
roosters,%
4.40
31.1
24.4
22.2

Nm

Nf

Ne

1.26
1.75
1.84
1.96

2.79
2.58
3.76
3.9

3.47
4.17
4.94
5.22

0.14
0.12
0.10
0.09

35.6

15.6

1.17

2.5

3.19

0.16

hens. This indicates that raisers were aware of the importance of selecting the next
parental lines of their chickens. Mainly, they select it among the chickens within their
flock because of their familiarity with the traits possessed by these chickens. There
were few raisers who acquired their replacement stocks from their neighbors and in
the market. They were doing this when they see greater potential in chickens to be
the replacement stocks.
Most of the raisers replace their roosters and hens when these were old or
when they die due to various causes. Probably, they valued most these chickens
which possess the traits they wanted. The higher effective population size (Ne, 5.22)
of chickens in Garcia Hernandez among the raisers compared to the other
municipalities indicated that mating was limited within the chicken flock. These
practices may be due to market preferences for certain meat quality which can only
be found among traditional chickens. The lowest inbreeding coefficient (F, 0.09) of
this group was attributed to larger Ne. The findings in the selection practices and
sources of replacement stocks corroborate the observations of Oate (1991) among
the raisers in Camarines Sur, and Guevarra et al. (1991) and Magpantay et al.
(2006) among the raisers in Southern Tagalog.

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171

CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that the production of eggs for home consumption is the
principal function of native chickens in most towns followed by the use as source of
income and meat for home consumption. Weight is the primary factor that dictates
market price but farmers rated growth and number of eggs as the production traits
they would like the most to be improved. Therefore, the ultimate breeding objective
should be to develop dual-purpose Boholano strain of native chicken considering
the trait of number of eggs and live weight and possessing the distinct plumage
color and comb type.
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